Blood and Rewards chapter 22

This battle turned out to be a complete victory. Many Lycans had been wounded, but after the battle, everyone was healed.

But unfortunately, some would not continue to walk with their brothers and sisters; nine of them had fallen into traps and were vulnerable enough to be killed.

When this information was reported to William, he was a little surprised. It was naive to think that the Lycans would not die or that they were unbeatable, that they could be killed like any other being, only that it was more complicated to fight them.

But even then, it was impossible to say it was a memorable victory.

The advantage of the surprise night battle proved to be gigantic for his race; probably only after a long time, tactics made to deal with his people were elaborated; until then, he should make the most of the situation.

Several plans were emerging in William's mind; he was ready to initiate some of the most daring.

But for everything to work out, he needed to increase his army, and only this current number would be able to support his future actions.

One of the Lycans came to notify us that the Dothrakis had stored a great deal of gold and jewelry, lots of food, and some stone jewelry that they didn't know what it was, but it seemed expensive because they were inside ornate boxes that were already very valuable.

William's heart took a small leap; maybe, just maybe, he had hit the jackpot.

Walking toward the Dothrakis' warehouse, he realized that his men surrounded the area where the women slaves were staying, not allowing any to escape.

William was not afraid that any Lycan would commit any crime; they were made to follow him faithfully, and even when they had to go against their twisted instincts, they would eventually bow to the will of their Lord.

And their Lord had given them some orders; some laws had been created for their kind; these rules tried to civilize these people in some way.

By carelessness, they might become more 'barbaric' and more 'uncivilized', for by nature, the Lycans were more likely to be dominated by their instincts, so the rules should be vigorous.

At that time, one of the 'Great Laws' had been activated, that is, the prohibition of any form of sexual violence at any time. Such acts were prohibited both for life in their societies and when they were at war.

This 'Great Law' not only aimed to protect against one of the acts that society saw as the most abominable, it also focused on bringing to their newborn race a good stigma; when they fought against others, they would not be like the savage Dothraki.

To his surprise, when he arrived there, he received the account that more than 60 of the women slaves had committed suicide for fear of being devoured alive by the Lycans.

He ended up feeling bad for this information; they were senseless deaths. He was there, besides destroying these Dothrakis and freeing these poor people.

But in any case, it was impossible to prevent some misunderstandings from happening; they would inevitably occur.

William told these women slaves that they were free now and that they could follow their lives as they wished, but if they accepted, he could give them a new life and a place to live.

In conversation with them, he explained the pros and cons, should they accept them, and also explained that no harm would be done to them if they did not want it.

To William's surprise, however, there was not one among the 389 slaves who refused this option.

In a second, the majority of the Lycan people went from one gender to the other in a more pronounced way.

Out of curiosity, he questioned what their motives were, and the answers were many, from just wishing they could to others wanting to be something'more' and for some just wanting to stay close to him.

After turning them into Lycans, William, out of curiosity, entered the minds of some of them. He felt abused, and the things they wanted to do with him... they felt a form of passion for him that was very wild, very physical, but also had strong respect and admiration for him.

They longed for him; they wanted him so much that they willingly chose to follow him; they were like crazy fans who followed their idols anyway, if they could do some 'dirty' things with them.

These feelings were accentuated when they became Lycan, but it was still surprising to him this 'burning passion'.

The reason for accentuating this feeling by being transformed into Lycan was simple: Lycan society was a society of admiration for the strong, and a Lycan woman ended up choosing among those she liked the strongest. Of course, this occurs most of the time; it does not mean that it always happens, but it was already possible to say that it was one of the emerging aspects of Lycan culture.

Lycan men targeted women with wider hips; even if it was an aspect of many cultures, this greater attraction to women with wider hips was accentuated for Lycans by their greater proximity to me as an 'animal' part.

William knew things were going well, but he also knew that he was getting more complex with each passing moment.

With the new addition to his breed, William quickly needed to expand his food stocks. It would become more difficult to hide from Emilly his 'interactions' with'strange' people, but it was impossible for him just to finance the feeding of those people. It was time for the Lycas to have a place to call home.

It was time to begin the execution of the plan to conquer Lorath.